and where are you going
by castlestormed
Summary: Julie looks forward to a future on the road. [post-canon AU; Julie-centric; a peek into the future]


"Who would have known that things would end up like this?" Claire smiled with a hint of mischief in her mascara lined eyes, with a shade of irony as she patted the heated hood of her car - _her_ car - with affection.

Julie was looking around for something so she missed the look. "Weird, huh?" she mused, sharing some of Claire's amusement. "How does it feel?"

"Hmmmmmm... like it's alright. I like the weirdness. It sorta fits me." She paused. "You gonna be okay out here?"

Julie didn't reply right away, thinking about the day's events and how it had led up to now. She sighed. "It's gonna suck the first couple of weeks for sure... but I think I'm gonna live."

"I think so too." Claire grinned, and this time Julie saw. She echoed the expression - at least until Claire added: "About both those things. I told you you should've done the reveal over the vids."

"Yeah, yeah." Julie shook her head, shook away the empty feeling in her chest. "One of my regrets."

"Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, without dilly dallying about it," Claire continued.

"Are you seriously lecturing me about this right now?" Julie asked, amused.

"Well when else am I supposed to do it?" Claire planted her hands on her hips, and when she tilted her head up, her eyes shone with a sudden brightness under arched, well-defined brows. "You'll be way too busy up here." Her irritated tone cracked and her manicured fingers tightened their grip, frozen in place even when Julie went in to give her a hug. "I don't know when I'll get to see you again."

"Sooner than later," Julie promised, grinning hard because her eyes had gone wet too when Claire finally moved to return the hug. "You'll keep yourself busy anyway so it won't feel that long."

"Busy, yeah. Cleaning up _your_ mess."

"Sorry?"

Claire laughed, stepping back. Her hands were warm on Julie's shoulders. "You can apologize by coming back in one piece."

"I'll try."

"You _will_. And I also expect you to find something useful for Deluxe - "

"Detroit," Julie corrected.

"Whatever." She squeezed Julie's shoulders a final time before releasing her to her fate. Julie picked her way over to her car and watched, with a hand on the door to the driver's seat, as her best friend hopped into her own ride and drove off.

Julie listened to her fade away.

Then she slipped into 9lives and leaned back into her cushy driver's seat, scrubbing her eyes in silence. She breathed and thought of all the things that had happened. She let herself think about her father, about KaneCo. About Motorcity and Red.

About the Burners, her second family.

"Okay," she said to herself. "Let's drive."

* * *

Julie had been driving for less than half an hour out when she heard them coming up from behind her. Her commlink blinked in warning, an incoming message.

"Did you think we'd let you leave this time without saying goodbye?" asked Mike, when she opened the line.

"Hey guys," was all Julie managed to choke out. A roar to her left hearalded the arrival of a black and red bruiser of a car. To her right, a purple car, flashy and sleek. And the bright green racer that was often at the head of the pack? Julie didn't need to check her rearview mirror. The ground under her wheels rumbled as Mutt thundered behind her.

One by one the Burners shot ahead and curved around, passing by her window. Dutch asked for snaps of all the interesting places she would see. Texas wanted food. Mutt shot past her and she saw Mike wave, Chuck screaming, gone the next moment then back again as Mike hit the reverse and kept pace with 9lives.

"You always have a place with the Burners, alright?" he shouted over the wind. "We'll be waiting for ya!"

She laughed. "I know! Try not to burn down Motorcity while I'm gone!"

"He probably will" - Chuck this time, finally having caught his breath - "but we'll keep it in one piece! Drive safe, Jules!"

"Drive safe? Chucky, who do you think you've been driving with for the past couple of years?"

"People I trust with my life" - Chuck had a hand on Mike's shoulder and a shy grin on his face that said he would have placed the other on Julie's if they were not in different cars. "Okay fine, that was the wrong send off! We're Burners, what do we do?"

"Live fast!" Mike shouted.

"Live free!" Julie crowed.

She laughed when Chuck's uncharacterisically carefree grin was swallowed up by a yelp as Mike saluted and shifted gears. Mutt shot away in a lime green blur.

Julie found herself yet again listening to the sounds of familiar motors, of friends, fading away. If she cried it was not because the situation stank of finality - it was the opposite. She knew would see them again. And the moment couldn't come any sooner.


End file.
